Spring



Feb. 2s, 1928. 1,660,892

F. C. SHEPLEY SPRING Filed April 2. 1926 |N\ TOR BY j wxTNEss: yATTowNEY proper include as a scribed andclaimed. f )1 will be bestunderstood by Patented Feb. 28, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT oF-F I C E. i

FRANK C. SHEPLEY, OF HOMINY, OKLAHOMA.

sraING.

Application led April 2, 1928. Serial No. 99,334.

directly to" integral hangers on a chassisbf a vehicle therebyeliminating the necess1ty of spring perches and lubricating accessoriestherefor and the ordinaryspringV shackles now in use. p

To accomplish this and other l the invention it is intended that thespring art thereof a severed spring leaf arranged etween certain of thereinforcing spring leaves making up the spring proper 'whereby theseleaf sections provided by severing this spring leaf are capable ofrelative movement to absorb the f shock. ^By the provision of a springthus constructed the springl proper, as here indicated, can be connectedto integral hangers included as a part of a chassis of a vehicle withoutdepreciating the utilityof the spring or deteriorating its absorbingfunction.

Other objectsV will appear hereinafter. The invention consists in thecombination and arrangement of parts hereinafter-:Hde-

The invention reference to the accompanying drawing, il-

x lustrating the preferredl form of construction, and in which Flg. 1 isa side elevational view of the spring, embodying the invention, showingthe same associated with a chassis of a vehi cle, said chassisbeingfragmentarily illustrated, t y .Y i Fig. 2 is a sectional detail viewofthe same taken substantially on line 2 -2 of,

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view of the same taken substantially on1ine3-3 of Fig. 1,

vIiig. 4 is a sectional detail view taken substantia lly on line 4--4 ofFig. 1, and

Figs. 5 and 6 are perspective views of the sections of the main angerspring embodied in the invention.

It is a-known fact to those skilled in the art, that the ordinaryhalfelliptical spring which is connected to spring perches of a vehiclethrough the medium of hangers, that when the spring acts to absorb ashock the invention contemplates a spring o f this character which canbe secured objects of Y skilled in the .buckling and wherein the"V duevstrain when the angers move to their extreme pivotal position by reasonof the tendency of the spring to move toward fiattened condition. If theshock is not completely absorbed by the .time these hangers move totheir extremepivotal positionit is apparent that the burden of furtherresisting the shock is cast upon either the springv leaves making up thespring or the perches. It is manifest that the to absorb the'shockbecause if the shock istoo great these perches will beruptured fromthechassis. It is likewise manifest that if the .burden is cast upon thespring leaves to further cushion the shock that these spring leaves willtend to buckle. This constant buckling of the spring leaves conditioncommonly spoken of those ther utility as an absorber. one of the mainprovid It is, therefore, objects of this invention to e a spring whichwill 'eliminate this spring will tend perches will not tend,

renders the spring to a.

il art as a set spring voi of furto absorb the shock by' frictionalengagement between certain up the spring roper.

To accomplish this andk other` objects of the inventionI provide aspring, indicated rality of reinforcing spring leaves 10 formed Aof suchmaterial as will a main hanger spring 11 through the medium of clips 12.These s ring cli s are, in the present instance, welded vto t e upperspring leaf 17 .to serve in their principal capacity to prevent lateraldisplacement of the spring leaves making up the spring proper.` i

The hanger s ring, herein mentioned, has its opposite en vide bearingsleeve 14. These sleeves 14 receive the hanger pins eluded as a part ofhangers 16. These hangers 16 vare preferably formed' as an integral partof the chassis 17 as illustrated in Fig. 4, however if found necessarythese bearing 15 inof the spring leaves making` portions 13 curledtopro-` generally `at A. This spring includes a plui best serve theurpose. .These spring leaves are connecte hangers can be made separatefrom the chassis and welded thereto in`a known manner.

As illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawing the main hanger spring 11is disposed between the upper spring leaf 17 and an intermediate springleaf 18. This main hanger spring is formed in sectional parts 19 and 20,as best illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, said sectional parts being ofdifferent lengths for( reasons hereinafter understood. The sectionalpart 19 has its end portion pointed as at 21 for reasons hereinafter'set forth.

In assembling the spring A 'the main hanger spring sectionalparts arearranged in alignment with respect to each other with adjacent endportions in spaced relation between the spring leaves 17 and 18. In.this condition a bolt 22 is passed through aligned openings 23 formedin the reinforcing spring leaves and in the leaf section 19. It will be.noted that the leaf section 20 is free for longitudinalmovementrbetween the adjacent spring leaves 17 and 18 as bestillustrated in Fig/1 of the drawing and that lateral displacement ofthis leaf section is prevented by certain of the clips 12. l

A head 24 at one end of the bolt 22 is confined in an opening 25y formedin the lowermost spring leaf 26 of the reinforcing spring leaves 10. Theopposite end of the bolts is threaded as at 27 to receive a lock nut 28vso forcooperating with the bolt 22 to bind the spring leaves making upthe spring A together.

The spring thus assembled is secured to the axle 28 of a vehicle (notshown) through the medium of U-byolts 29.

In actual use itis important to note that when a sudden shock istransmitted to the axle the) spring leaves tend to absorb this shockvand in absorbing the shock it is apparent that the spring will tend tomove toward fiattened condition. In moving toward flattened conditionthe leaf section 20 will moverelatively of the leaf section 19 thusrelieving the hangers 16 of a great degree of shock as it is known thatthefbulk of the shockis absorbed by the reinforcing spring beforetransmitted to the hanger spring. As this leaf. section 20 is disposedbetween the leaf sections 17 and 18 when this leaf section moves towardthe leaf section19 a frictional condition will exist between the leafsection 2 0 and the adjacent leaf sections h erein indicated. By reasonof this friotional condition itis manifest that a great degree of theshock -is absorbed by the leaf sections of the hanger spring beforetransmitting any continuing latent shock that might be present to thehangers 16 thereby, as herein stated, relieving these hangers of unduestrain which would otherwise tend to rupture them from association withthe chassis.

By pointing the end portion of the leaf section 19 any dirt or otherforeign particles of matter which accumulates in the space 29 definedbyspacing the adjacent ends of the leaf sections in spaced relation,will be ejected from this space upon relative movement of the leafsection 20. This is due to the fact that the leaf section 20 moves thedirt toward the pointed end of the leaf section 19 and this pointed endguides the dirt from within the space 29. Y,

The movable-leaf section 2O can be, after assembly, lubricated byinjecting a lubrication fluid into the space 29, it being appar,-entthatasf this leaf section 20 moves rela. tively tothe leaf section 19that it will come into contact with the lubrication and carry the sameback over portions which it moves. It is lalso pointed out that ifdesired the ordinary leather boot (not shown) can bearranged to protectlthe leaf springs from Adirt or other foreign particles of matter, it

being pointed out that this boot is not disclosed no1' described becauseit does'not constitute an essential part of the present invention.

' From the description herein it will be manifest that I provide aspring which will perform its necessary respective funct-ion7 and thatby the novel construction of the same the spring can beexpeditiouslyconnected directly .to integral hangers included as a partof the chassis of a vehicle thus pro-v ducing a spring which can beeconomically manufactured.'

While IA have illustratedand described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable ofvariation and modification without departing from the` spirit of theinvention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precisedetailsv of construction set forth, butv desire to avail myself of suchvariations and modifications as come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having Idescribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. A spring of the class described including reinforcing spring leaves,l a hanger spring leaf carrying the reinforcing spring' leaves, saidhanger spring leaf comprising sectional parts disposed Abetween certainof the reinforcing leaves, one of said sectional parts being free tomove relatively to the other of the sectional parts, and a connectingelement binding the other of the sectional parts and the reinforcingspring leaves together.

2. A spring of the class described including reinforcing spring leaves,a hanger spring leaf carrying the reinforcing spring leaves, said hangerspring leaf comprising sectional parts disposed between certain of thereinforcing leaves, one of said sectional parts being free to moverelatively of the other of the sectional parts, the opposite endportions of the hanger spring leaf being curled to provide bearingSleeves, and a connecting element binding the other of the sectionalparts and the reinforcingy spring leaves together.

3. The combination with a chassis of a vehicle and hangers associatedtherewith and an axle, of reinforcing spring leaves, a main hangervspring leaf having opposite ends curled for connection with the hangers,the main hanger spring leaf comprisin,f ,\r sectional parts disposed inalignment between certain of the reinforcing spring leaves with adjacentend portions in spaced relation, the end portion of one of the sectionsof the main. hanger spring leafbeing pointed in a direction toward theadjacent cud of the other of the-sections of the main hanger springleaf, and means for securing the reinforcing spring leaves and the mainhanger spring leaf in superposed lrelation to the axle. p Y

4. The combination with a chassis of a vehicle vand hangers associatedtherewith t and an axle, of reinforcing spring leaves, `a

main hanger spring leaf having opposite ends curled for connection withthe hangers, the main hanger spring leaf comprising sectional partsdisposed in alignment between certain of the reinforcing spring leavesWith adjacent end portions in spaced relation, the

end portion of one lof the sections of the main hanger sprin leaf beingpointed in a direction toward t e adjacent end of the other of thesections of the main hanger spring leaf, means for securing thereinforcing spring leaves and the main hanger4 leaf l spring insnperposed relation to the axle,1`

and a connecting element passing through aligned openings formed in thereinforcing springleaves and said one of the sections of the main hangerspring leaf for binding said reinforcing spring leaves and the sectionsof the main hanger' spring leaf in said super osed relation.

5. spring of the class described including an intermediate hanger springleaf comprising sectional parts disposed in alignment with adjacent endportions in spaced relation with respect to eachother, the end portionof one of said sections being pointed in a direction toward the other ofthe sections.

6. The combination with a chassis of a vehicle, and hangers associatedvvith'thel chassis, of a spring assembly, said sprin assembly includinga spring leaf defin by sectional parts having out end portions connectedto the hangers, one of said sectional parts being capable of movementtoward the `other of the sectional parts, and a member connecting theother of the sectional parts to the other spring leaves of the springassembly.

In testimony whereof I ax my signature.

FRANK C. SHEPLEY.

